Yale Professor Speaks On Exercise, Oxygen Use

March 07, 1985|The Morning Call

Physical exercise is limited by the amount of oxygen that the body is able to supply to its muscles, said Dr. Ethan R. Nadel, associate professor of epidemiology and physiology at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Nadel appeared last night at Moravian College for a lecture sponsored by the school's Omicron Delta Kappa scholarship and leadership honor society and the biology club.

He said oxygen serves to fuel the muscles and, as the intensity and length of the exercise increases, so does the demand for oxygen. But the supply of oxygen does not keep up with the demand and the body goes into oxygen debt.

As a result of the lack of oxygen, the body is unable to produce energy and goes into fatigue, he said.

Nadel described it as a "consequence of the inability of the body to deliver proper energy requisites to the muscles."

The fatigue can take anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours to develop depending on the type of exercise that is being done, he added.

Nadel said training enables the body to operate efficiently and stave off fatigue by preparing it to function when tired.

He said that, when conditioned, the body's cardiovascular system is able to transport the oxygen through the body at a faster and more efficient rate, enabling it to continue.